Brussels, 25/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - Compulsory mention of the place of production on labelling can ensure that consumers are perfectly informed of the quality of food, thus strengthening agricultural competitiveness, said the EP agriculture committee. On Tuesday 23 February, the committee adopted by 34 votes to 4 and 2 abstentions the report by Giancarlo Scotta (EFD, Italy) on the strategy to be adopted with regard to farm produce quality policy. The report is due to be examined by the European Parliament on 24 March. The European Commission will propose a draft regulation on quality products at the end of 2010.
Members of the agriculture committee wish to safeguard the current system of geographical indications and especially its two main tools: - protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI). In order to remedy shortcomings of the system, such as the usurpation of GIs within and beyond the EU, the committee proposes amending existing legislation to give consortia of GI owners a role in managing PDO and PGI products.
A binding multilateral register of all GI products worldwide, to be agreed at the WTO under TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Article 23, is essential to fight usurpation and counterfeiting, the Commission says. MEPs also call on the Commission to provide GI bodies with financial and technical support to tackle these problems.
Members of the agriculture committee state they are in favour of a binding regulation relating to “place of farming” for primary products, decided on a case by case basis. They feel this should be done without creating any excessive costs and by investigating alternatives to traditional labelling, such as bar codes or web sites. Supplementary information should be made voluntary to avoid overloading labels and thus confusing consumers, according to the approved text.
Producers of quality wines are pleased
In a press release published on Wednesday 24 February, the European platform for quality wines (designation of origin) composed of CECRV (Conferencia Española de Consejos Reguladores Vitivinícolas), CNAOC (Confédération nationale des producteurs de vins et eaux-de-vie de vin à appellations d'origine controlee), FEDERDOC (Confederazione nazionale dei consorzi volontari per la tutela delle denominazioni dei vini italiani) and IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto), welcomes the result of the vote in agriculture committee. Unlike the European Commission which had not mentioned the subject of production control in its communication of May 2009, the European Parliament considers this is an essential element to ensure quality production, the communiqué reads. Quality wine producers note that the Scotta report is along the lines of requests from designation of origin wine producers, taking a stance against the merger of PDO and PGI.
“It is now essential for the agriculture ministers of producer countries to be actively involved on this subject and to build a common front to compel the Commission to make proposals that take the expectations of our branch into account, especially when it comes to production control”, commented Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, FEDERDOC President. (L.C./transl: jl)